Peer pressure
The Coalition has just suffered its first parliamentary setback. In the Lords, the Labour Peer Lord Howarth of Newport has just , which changes the structure of local councils in Norfolk and Devon, preventing the creation of new unitary authorities in Norwich, Exeter and Ipswich.
By a four-vote margin Lord Howarth has persuaded peers to refer the bill to the Examiners (the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills, who are parliamentary officials). This sounds rather sinister, but means that there is a question about whether the bill affects purely public interests or impinges on private interests too - if the latter, the bill has to be treated as a hybrid, which requires different procedures.
Having won, there was nothing for their lordships to discuss....and the crossbencher , who was due to launch a dinner time debate on UK competitiveness, was nowhere to be found. So the House "adjourned during pleasure" as they say in the Lords. Meanwhile the whips are looking for Lord Levene.
The reorganisation of Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon councils provoked considerable passion in the last Parliament, where Labour and the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives got into a most unseemly row over who was gerrymandering what. Now, it seems, that struggle has spilled over into this Parliament, with uncomfortable results for the Coalition. A taste of things to come?
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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